T-O-L...

...E-D-O! Go Rockets!
Eh? Who knew? Anyway, we were in Toledo last weekend visiting the family and the University of Toledo had their homecoming parade that Saturday afternoon. Colin joined Zoe and some of her gal pals in the neighborhood with huge bags to collect candy. I was informed that when the kids cheer the college kids, alumni, etc, toss out candy. I didn't realize how much candy.





This was Colin's first parade experience and first candy collection. After watching the girls, he quickly caught on to the gig. All of them ended up with pounds of sugar!

It was a fun parade. The theme was the Wild Midwest; Sweet Home Toledo. Floats, clowns, horses, the marching band...it was a good time and the weather was perfect.

Down on the Farm

We went to visit Aunt Gretchen at the organic farm where she's been an intern for the summer. It was a great weekend, sunny and in the 80's. Bill and G's cousin Stacy and her two kids, Luke and Grace made the trip as well.

We piled on to horse drawn wagons to pick turnips to feed the sheep. Colin was very proud of his turnip picking prowess.




We saw the pumpkin patch where we'd later select an orange squash or two. Also along the way was Reggie, the huge pappa pig! He came up to the fence to snort a hello.

The kids enjoyed feeding the baby pigs (they were well beyond the piglet stage and close to being bacon time!), chasing the chickens, petting the horses Sam, Ruby and Clementine, and mooing at the two cows.



A fun though exhausting day. Colin really ran off a lot of energy playing (and no nap!). Thanks Gretchen for hosting us for a whole day!

Love at the Disco

Uncle Russ brought a dance video game to the lake and we hooked it up to the kinect. You follow the dance moves and score points. Colin fell in love with one of the avatars...Emelia I think was her name. Some hoochie mama. Here is Colin bustin' a move to Laga Gaga and dancing with his beloved Emelia.

The Stand Up Comic

Colin told his first joke.

I was in the wine shop (where else?) and Nana Sheila was waiting in the car with Colin. As I approached the counter to pay, they could see me through the store front window.
Colin asked, "Is that my mom?"
Nana answered yes.
"Is she paying the bill?"
Nana answered yes.
"Is she paying the shannon?"
My mom turned to him and said that he just told a funny joke.
He replied, "Stop talking to me, Nana."
And that was that.

Then...On To Being Goofy

Colin has taught himself to burp on command...his command. Not sure if this is one more thing he's picked up from the big kids in his class, but I'm not amused.

Other funny-isms.

If he doesn't get his way, you are not his best friend anymore. Nice. I just say, "Nope, I'm your mom".

We spent the night at Nana Mary and Papa Beard's house before heading up to the Lake. Upon arrival Colin greeted them with big hugs and then asked, "Where are all my cousins?" For in his more recent memory there was a house full of relatives visiting for the holidays.

He is eager to be 4 years old so he can be bigger and faster.

Colin is definitely comfortable with technology and expects everything to work like an Ipad. He was touching the graphics of the NASCAR race on Kathy and John's TV trying to move them out of the way. On the way to the Lake he was getting ready to watch a movie on his travel DVD player and asked, "Where is the YouTube? I wanna watch a show." And, he's found all the game apps on my Ipod.

Some tough questions

"Mommy, am I going to die?"
Ummm....long pause.
Well, yes, after a long, long, long time, everyone dies. Elephants, birds, bugs, people...
"I don't want to die. Why do I have to die?"
You don't have to worry about it for a long time. After many birthdays, probably not until you're 99 yrs old and a grandpa.
"I'm scared to die."
It's okay to be scared. I don't like to think about it either.
"How do I die?"
After many years and many birthdays, our bodies slowly stop working and sort of like closing our eyes, we die.
He hunches his body over. "Like this?"
I guess so. I don't really know what it's like to die.
"Then do we come back new? As a new person?"
Some people do believe you come back new as a person. Some people believe you can come back new as an animal. There are lots of ideas of what happens after we die.
"I want to come back new."
Okay, me too.

So unprepared for these conversations with my always processing 3 year old.

Lake Week 2011

We enjoyed great weather for Lake Week 2011. Most everyone was able to make it in for some or all of the week. Colin loved having Zoe and Justis to play with and only beat up on them a few times. Naptimes and bedtimes were an after thought as we swam most days and chased fireflies at night. By the end of the week Colin was very comfortable "swimming" when loaded up with his life jacket and water wings.

Colin was convinced to go on the boats when we said he could drive. I picked up some kid-sized gardening gloves at the Hidden Lakes gardens, and he used those as his driving gloves, weeding gloves, and super hero blasting gloves.






Midweek, we gave Colin a haircut. It was meant to happen in two stages. The first stage was a faux hawk to let us get started. Then he loved it so much he didn't want to sit for another trim. However, he didn't want his hair spiked, so it was an odd looking faux hawk. We have yet to get him to Great Clips for a clean up. Justis liked it and asked Uncle Bill to buzz him down too. In the photo below Colin is sitting in his old excersaucer still at the lake. I don't know how he still fits (sorta), but you can see his lovely hairdo.